Team 14
by Xyon-Soul
Summary: Konohamaru and Hanabi are put on the same genin team. Faced with the obsticles of their incompatible personalities, a bumbling sensei and a very strage teammate can the two new shinobi reach their own goals or will their goals shift. Set during Time skip
1. Chapter 1 New Teacher

**Hey guys, this is my attempt at a KonoHana fic. It's my forst fic so constructive criticism is welcome.**

**Just to be clear, the story begins 6 months after Naruto and Jiraiya leave the village to train and thus is set during the time skip. All the students in Konohamaru and Hanabi's class are 11 and about to begin their final year at the academy.  
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"Konohamaru" = speech

"Hanabi" = Thought

**Both Kai and Futan are OCs **

**I don't own Naruto.**

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**Chapter 1: New Teacher**

Sarutobi Konohamaru yawned as he walked into the classroom. It was the first day back at the academy after summer break and he was definitely not enjoying becoming reacquainted with his alarm clock. As he wondered over to his usual seat between Udon and Moegi he glanced over the other students in the class. Hayase Kai was idly making an origami crane, while Dobutsu Futan slept on his desk and the ever so proper Hyuga Hanabi sat still as a statue with her usual expressionless look on her face. The rest of the students were either talking about their holidays or attempting a last minute completion of their homework.

"Morning Kon-kun" Moegi said as he sat down, "Did you hear the rumours about our new sensei,"

"New sensei? What about Iruka-sensei?" Konohamaru asked distressed about the potential loss of his favourite teacher.

"Well my dad is on the school board and he said Iruka-sensei was given an important mission and we were getting a replacement this semester," Udon stated.

Just then the door opened and all conversation stopped as Umino Iruka walked into the room, a big smile plastered on his face. Behind him walked Ebisu, Konohamaru's former tutor. "Oh-no not him, please anyone but him, I'll take Ibiki over him_"_ Konohamaru thought as the two men reached the middle of the room an turned to face the students who, apart from the still sleeping Futan, were looking back at them.

"Good morning students, it's nice to see you all back and ready to learn," Iruka said as the smile on his face grew bigger, "However I'm afraid that I am no longer your sensei, from this point forward you shall be instructed by Ebisu-sensei", Iruka motioned towards Ebisu with his hand. "Shit"

The entire class went into uproar as everyone except the still dozing Futan and the always emotionless Hanabi were yelling at the two men at the front, pleading with Iruka to stay.

"Quiet!" Iruka's voice is so loud he drowns out the near riot and even wakes Futan who looked slightly confused, "I know many of you want me to remain, and I am not happy to have to leave you, but I can ensure you that Ebisu-sensei is one of the best ninja trainers in the village and will serve you well. As for the reason I must leave, I know there have been many rumours but the truth is that I have finally made Jonin rank," this statement left everyone speechless until a student in the front of the class begins clapping and suddenly the entire class bursts into a new wave of noise and commotion, this time in an effort to offer congratulations to their former teacher. As the noise died down Iruka began to speak again, "As I'm sure you know, being a Jonin means the village bylaws label it a waste of potential to allow me to continue teaching at the academy, however I have already taken a spot as one of next year's Jonin-sensei, which means that three of you will be on my team come 12 months, but until then I have duties to attend to, goodbye and good luck," with that he made a hand sign and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The class was silent and only Hanabi had seemed to maintain composure. All eyes were on Ebisu, who quickly cleared his throat and began the lesson as if he were always there. Konohamaru began to instinctively filter out Ebisu's voice as the new teacher began to drone on about basic genjutsu, this was going to be a long semester.

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**This chapter was mostly to set the scene, there will be more interaction between characters next chapter and most of the school year will be skipped or only done in a montage format. Please tell me if you like it or have something constructive to say. Will update as quickly as possible.**


	2. Chapter 2 Graduation Exam

**Hey, guys, chapter 2 now, as I expected I couldn't find anything to do with the rest of the school year so I skipped it. That means that the students are now 12 and there is still a year left until Naruto returns. Also be warned it is a much longer chapter than chapter 1, over 2000 words. Hope you enjoy. **

**Still don't own naruto. **

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**Chapter 2 – The Graduation Exam.**

The final year of academy training went by fast for Hyuga Hanabi and her class. She now sat in her usual seat, on the last day of her non-ninja life waiting for Ebisu to finish explaining the rules so she could pass the exam and move on with her life and ditch the imbeciles in her class. Hanabi had never particularly liked her classmates, not that she hated them either, she just thought they were below her. As a Hyuga she was naturally gifted with not only the byakugan but also a quick mind and sharp reflexes, she was simply better than the other students. Some people, like her sister, waste their gifts and don't try hard enough to reach their potential, Hanabi was determined to not be like that, she would be a true Hyuga and make her father proud.

As she listened to Ebisu drone on about procedure she activated her byakugan and took a quick look at her 'competition'. Most of the class had no skill at all and would probably repeat. Hayase was, at first glance, unimpressive, but had a remarkably well developed chakra network and was gifted with water style ninjutsu, he'd probably get through. Dobutsu was lazy, but was also incredibly muscular for a 12 year old, was faster than expected for his large build and seemed a very capable taijutsu user; he'd pass, if he woke up. The only other people in the room to show any ability were Sarutobi and his two friends. Moegi had a natural talent in gengutsu and Udon seemed to get by on his intelligence. It was Sarutobi himself who showed the most potential, he had apparently inherited his grandfather's famed talent at learning new ninjutsu with relative ease; the fact that the loud mouthed idiot was able to achieve so much and was content to waste his abilities on novelties and idiotic ventures like his pervert jutsu was a great annoyance to Hanabi, though not as much as his constant claims to be the next Hokage despite his obvious lack of intelligence or focus.

Just then Ebisu finished his long speech and began the first stage of the exam: a written test on both ninja theory and Konoha history. Hanabi's father had drilled this information into her from a young age; she could pass this test in her sleep. She finished early and noted that both Udon and Hayase were done before her, though Hayase had folded his into a crane after completing it. As the test reached the end some of the students, including Sarutobi, began to look desperate, and when Ebisu finally went to collect the papers he had to physically remove Sarutobi's from his hands with force. Hanabi noted that much of the answer sheet was still blank. Now that the simple test was over the practical exam began.

The practical exam consisted of three parts: Ninjutsu, Genjutsu and Taijutsu. First was the ninjutsu. A wooden practice dummy was set up in front of the class and Ebisu called everyone up one by one to demonstrate the three basic jutsu: clone, transformation and substitution and then to perform their best attack jutsu on the dummy. The first person up was Hayase. The Blue haired boy rose from his chair silently leaving another origami crane on his desk and made his way to the front of the class. This was the first time Hanabi had ever looked at Hayase's appearance in any detail, and she was not overly impressed. His blue hair was short and messy and clashed with his bright green eyes, he was of average height and other than his over developed chakra network, which only Hanabi could see thanks to her byakugan, he seemed completely non threatening. Hayase performed the three basic jutsu with ease and then began going through a large set of hand signs for his attack jutsu, "Water style: Hydro Blast," as he finished the last syllable a huge torrent of water launched from his mouth in one concentrated blast and disintegrated the dummy's head along with most of its upper torso. All the students simply stared at the odd boy as he calmly walked back to his seat and began folding another crane.

They brought in a new dummy and the exam continued, most performed the basic jutsu well enough but lacked any ability with their attack jutsu. After a while Ebisu called Dobutsu's name and the boy was woken by the student sitting next to him. As he stood up it became even more obvious how tall he was compared to the other students, he was at least a head taller than everyone else. Hanabi watched as the large boy walked down the steps, it was obvious to her that despite his laziness and long shaggy hair he was a well disciplined warrior, she could read the training in his walk, it was measured and surefooted. At the front he did the basic jutsus adequately and turned to face the dummy, he began making some hand signs then shouted "Earth style: Stone Fist" as he simultaneously clapped his right hand to the ground. A large piece of rock broke through the classroom floor and encased his right arm, forming a large fist shape, Dobutsu then proceeded to punch the dummy which splintered and caved in where he struck leaving a large hole in the middle of its torso. He then went back to his desk and promptly went back to sleep.

Hanabi was next. She walked calmly to the front of the class and bowed to Ebisu, as protocol demanded. She performed the basic jutsu flawlessly and then began her hand signs for her attack jutsu, "Wind Style: Execution Blade", she then swung her arm out in front of her horizontally as a thin wave of chakra infused air sped across the room and impacted the dummy. Nothing seemed to happen for a while and Konohamru began to laugh loudly, "Ha, what was that Hyuga, your meant to kill the dummy not blow some air on it," At the idiot's remark Hanabi turned to him and glared. The fact that the normally emotionless Hyuga Hanabi was glaring at him was enough to make Konohamaru shut up, but the timely occurrence of the dummy's cleanly severed head dropping to the floor as she turned made him cower under his desk, as she returned to her seat.

The rest of the class then attempted the exam with most failing the attack portion, with the notable exceptions of Moegi and Udon who each used a fire style to set the dummy alight. As Konohamaru walked up to the dummy he began talking very loudly, "No way I'm gonna fail this, I'm the Third Hokage's grandson and a future Hokage myself, this is a piece of cake for me," His words turned out to be true, as annoying as Hanabi found that, as he breezed past the three basic jutsus and then emulated his two best friends in performing a fire breath jutsu on the dummy, but where Moegi and Udon had merely set the dummy alight, Konohamaru incinerated it, leaving only a pile of ash and a slightly charred Ebisu scribbling notes on his clip board. He then turned to Hanabi and poked his tongue out at her, "See that's how you really do it," he said. Hanabi simply glared again and the loud mouthed Hokage wannabe went running scared back to his desk.

The next part of the exam was a simple demonstration of the students' genjutsu skill, they had to put one of Ebisu's teaching assistants under a genjutsu and release a genjutsu that Ebisu cast on them. Both Hayase and Hanabi easily passed this part of the exam; Dobutsu managed to cast a gengutsu but didn't manage to resist Ebisu's sleep genjutsu. Udon and Moegi both passed, but only barely and Konohamaru was able to do both tasks fairly well. Only a hand full of the rest of the class managed to cast a genjutsu though most managed to resist Ebisu's. Despite going second, Dobutsu was still asleep by the end of the genjutsu test, though Hanabi doubted this was still the effect of Ebisu's jutsu.

The Final test was the taijutsu portion of the test, which was held outside on the practice field. Each student had to spar with one of the teaching assistants for five minutes while Ebisu watched. Hayase went first, he readied himself and took a defensive stance and waited for the assistant to strike. When the chunin lunged at him, Hayase simply dodged it, moved away, and then went back into his defensive position. This repeated several times as the assistant never managed to land a blow. Ebisu called the match and moved on to the next student. After several students had gone, it was Dobutsu's turn. The large bear-like boy took up his stance and let the assistant come at him, unlike Hayase however, Dobutsu took the punch square in the stomach. The muscular student didn't seem effected while the chunin who had attacked him grabbed his hand and cried out in pain, Dobutsu took his chance and with a single blow knocked his opponent out cold.

Hanabi went next and was now paired against a new chunin as Dobutsu's opponent was taken to hospital with a mild concussion and a broken hand. She centred herself, activated her byakugan and took up the first stance of the gentle fist style. The new chunin was faster than the last and flew across the field at her and then darted around behind her to strike at her flank. Hanabi lowered herself and flowed under the jabbing strike then shot her right hand up and hit the assistant in the chest. The man collapsed in a heap, paralysed from the neck down due to Hanabi having blocked his chakra point. Ebisu called the match and Hanabi un-blocked the chunin's chakra point and went to stand under the shade of a tree on the edge of the field.

Udon, managed to last three minutes before he was defeated by the teaching assistant while Moegi actually beat her opponent, however she was reprimanded for punching him in the crotch. Konohamaru lasted the whole five minutes, but was unable to defeat his opponent. Once the last few students had finished they were taken back to the class room where they had lunch while Ebisu and his two remaining teaching assistants marked the written tests. Hanabi sat down in her seat and began eating her rice balls, she was confident she had passed, and was still secretly happy with her intimidation of Konohamaru earlier. She activated her byakugan and looked behind her, at the others to gauge their reaction to the test, Hayase was eating sushi and folding more paper cranes as if this was just another normal day, Dobutsu was surprisingly not sleeping but was in fact eating a rather large sandwich with what appeared to be beef in it. Konohamaru and his friends were all eating ramen and talking amongst themselves, everyone else either appeared exhausted or was worriedly talking to their friends about their bad results. It didn't seem like they would even make three teams like her sisters year did.

After a while Ebisu walked into the room flanked by the two teaching assistants, one held a stack of papers which must have been the written exams and the other was holding a box which contained Konoha headbands.

"Ok Class, it's time for the results," Ebisu said as he waved for silence, "I'm afraid most of you have failed, but don't be disheartened, most don't succeed on their first try. As for those who have passed I will call your names out and you will come up here and collect your new headband, and will return here tomorrow for assignment into a team. Everyone else will have to return to class and try again,"

"So, firstly, Hayase Kai," Hayase walked up to the front took his new headband, presented Ebisu with an origami crane and left.

"Next is Dobutsu Futan," Dobutsu walked over, took his headband, bowed to Ebisu and followed Hayase out of the classroom.

There were two other students who passed who Hanabi hadn't counted on, one was a smallish boy with red hair and the other was a girl who always had a bike helmet on her head. The next student she had expected,

"Hyuga Hanabi," She got up strode over to the front of the class, bowed and accepted her new headband. She then left, however, unlike Hayase and Dobutsu who had evidently gone home Hanabi stood in the hall near the door, activated her byakugan and watched the rest of the graduates.

There was one more surprise student, a boy with a red bandana and a small sword on his back. Then Ebisu called out Udon, Moegi and Konohamaru, apologised to the rest of the students and began to file away the papers while the children left the room behind him.

There were now nine new genin in Konoha, and she was going to be in a team with two of them, she just hoped she wasn't put with that block head Sarutobi...

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**Well, there you have it, as you can guess Hayase and Dobutsu are the important OCs, the other three at the end were just to form a third team for traditions sake, and probably won't show up very often. Hope you enjoyed it, next chapter will bear witness to the actual team 14 as the title promises, see you then. **


	3. Chapter 3 Team 14 Origins

**Hey guys, Chapter three. Finally team 14 comes together. There are a few new names to learn here but none of them are essential, they are just the other three graduates and the two other Jonin instructors. (Fun fact: while the Genin are OCs the two new Jonin are both characters that have appeared in Naruto) anyway, I hope you enjoy. Please review, and constructive criticism is welcome. **

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**Chapter 3: Team 14 - Origins**

Senju Tsunade sighed as she looked across her desk at the four men who had arrived five minutes ago; Ebisu, Umino Iruka, Shirakumo Hayama and Mimura Hamaki.

"So you don't agree with the teams I have put forward?" The Hokage asked a hint of anger gnawing at the edge of her words.

"With all due respect, no we don't Mistress Hokage. We believe that together we have come up with a more effective team roster," replied Ebisu.

"And that would be?" Tsunade demanded, her anger now slightly kept in check by curiosity.

"Well firstly we believe we should split up Konohamaru from Moegi and Udon," Iruka began, "He simply isn't getting put out of his comfort zone enough with his fan club constantly following him around and Moegi and Udon have become too dependent on Konohamaru's talent to get them out of any given situation"

"Well where do you propose to put them?' Tsunade questioned

"We had decided it would be best if I take Moegi and Udon, in place of Jianke and the Hyuga girl," Hamaki said. "It would mean that my team would gain some non-taijutsu ability and Dobutsu would make up for their lack of close combat skill,"

"Ok, so you would take Hanabi and Qie then, Iruka," Tsunade asked, her curiosity giving way to both pride for her Jonin and some shame at having been drunk when composing the original roster.

"Ah, no Mistress Hokage, Umino would just take Hyuga along with Hayase from my team, and I shall receive Jianke," Hayama spoke up, "This would mean my team is more varied in combat ability and would turn Iruka's team into a sought of honours class, as he will have the three top scoring students from the graduation exam,"

"Why would you two agree to Iruka getting the three best students?" Tsunade asked her curiosity resurfacing.

"Well Iruka was their academy teacher up until last year, he knows their strengths and weaknesses, he knows where they need to improve and most importantly he has the best chance of getting these kids to embrace their full potential, the guy's like a teaching prodigy," Hamaki stated as he leaned back in his chair.

" I concurred with this conclusion, as you know mistress Hokage, this year's graduating class is the best we've seen since the rookie nine, and most of the credit for that goes to Iruka, not myself, they already knew most of the content by the time he passed the class on to me. " Ebisu offered. Iruka was now blushing from the compliments.

"Well then, seeing as you four are so set on your new roster I suppose you can keep it, these teams are now official." Tsunade said, a smile now on her face, "As long as you do all the paper work for it,"

Sarutobi Konohamaru was on top of the world, he was on his way to being Hokage. He had passed his Genin exam yesterday and wore his new headband around his head rather proudly just like his two best friends on either side of him. Today was the day they were to be put in ninja teams of three with a new Jonin sensei. As he looked around the classroom he took a closer observation of the other graduates. Other than himself, Moegi and Udon there were six new genin sitting around the classroom. Hayase Kai was making paper cranes as usual; he now had his headband tied around his head. Dobutsu Futan was sleeping and had his headband tied around his waist like a belt. Hyuga Hanabi was sitting in the front as usual, her headband around her neck. Mezurashi Akage, the boy with red hair was sat behind Hanabi with an almost confused look on his face and his headband tied around his left arm. Jitensha Mamoru was sat next to Mezurashi and seemed to be in awe of him; she had simply removed the cloth of her headband and attached the metal plate to the front of her bike helmet. The last graduate, Jianke Qie, was sat in front of Konohamaru and next to Dobutsu; he had replaced his red bandana with a bandana version of the headband.

Apart from Moegi and Udon, Konohamaru didn't know much about his fellow new genin, he wasn't surprised to see Hyuga or Dobutsu pass the exam but the other four were a surprise. Hayase had never shown very much aptitude before the exam and the other three hadn't even really made an impression on him then either. Not that it mattered to Konohamaru, none of them would be on his team, it was almost assured that he Moegi and Udon would be put in the same team, there was no way that the Hokage or the Jonin could dispute the true potential of the Konohamaru Corps.

Just then Ebisu walked into the room with a sheet of paper in his hand, and cleared his throat to get the attention of the class, all of whom now looked at him with undivided attention, Dobutsu having been woken up by Jianke. He was about to speak when Akage put his hand up.

"Yes, what is it Akage?" Ebisu asked patiently.

"Well sir it's just, um..., are you... sure I passed the exam," Akage asked nervously.

"Yes Akage, your score in the written test was very high, in fact you were ranked equal third and your ninjutsu and genjutsu were adequate enough to cover your low taijutsu score, you need to have more confidence in your abilities," Ebisu replied kindly.

"Oh, o-ok," Akage said before he sat down and seemed to sink lower into his seat, as Mamoru continued to stare at him.

"Anyway, now that we have cleared up that all of you have passed it is time to place you in your Genin teams. You will be placed in teams of three; each team will be assigned a number and then will be put under the command of a Jonin instructor. The instructor will act as both you teacher and squad captain in a mission scenario. Now the three teams are as follows." Ebisu stated as he began to read from the sheet of paper in his hand.

"Team 12; Mezurashi Akage," at this Akage sank even lower in to his seat, "Jitensha Mamoru," Mamoru seemed to light up even more beyond her usual happy self at this and clasped Akage's arm closely, "and Jianke Qie, your Jonin commander is Shirakumo Hayama," Ebisu concluded as he took a short break as Qie moved to sit next to his new teammates.

"Next, Team 13; Tensai Udon, Kisho Moegi, and..." this was it, Konohamaru knew it, this was the moment he would be put in a team with Udon and Moegi and start his career as a great ninja and future Hokage. "Dobutsu Futan, your Jonin commander is Mimura Hamaki," Ebisu finished.

"WHAT?" Konohamaru, Udon and Moegi blurted out in unison as Futan woke from his newest nap. "Why aren't I with Udon and Moegi!" Konohamaru continued.

"Well," Replied Ebisu with a calm smile on his face, having expected this response. " It was decided by the Jonin commanders and the Hokage that you would benefit more from a team that would push you outside your comfort zone and allowed Moegi and Udon to develop a personality beyond the Konohamaru Corps," Ebisu stated.

This was bad; Konohamaru didn't like this at all. Not only did it mean he wouldn't be with Udon and Moegi, the current situation also meant that his teammates had to be the origami obsessed quiet freak Kai and... Hanabi, the Demon of fear herself, not that Konohamaru would ever admit that

"But we've always been a team, we work bet together. It's not fair for them to split us up now," Konohamaru continued arguing.

"Enough Konohamaru, the decision has been made, if you want to launch an official protest you'll have to take it to the Hokage herself," Ebisu countered.

"Fine... I guess we could try to make this work," Tsunade was the one person on the planet who scared him more than Hanabi and this was not worth getting her angry over.

"Good now that is over with I shall conclude with the final team. Team 14; Hyuga Hanabi, Sarutobi Konohamaru and Hayase Kai, your Jonin commander is Umino Iruka," at this Konohamaru's dark mood lightened a little, he had forgotten that Iruka-sensei had taken a position as a genin team leader, at least his team wasn't all bad.

"Now, sit in your team groups and wait for you Jonin commanders to arrive, I have some errands to run, so I will say my goodbyes now, I hope you all prosper in your future career," with that Ebisu left the room.

Konohamaru reluctantly got up and gave his seat to Futan while he made his way to sit next to Kai who had already sat next to Hanabi. Even with the strange boy separating them, Konohamaru could almost feel the aura of arrogance and intolerance the Hyuga gave off, this wasn't going to be an easy team to work with.

Iruka was the first of the instructors to arrive, about 5 minutes later. He collected his three new genin and, after congratulating the others on their graduation, he took them to a small park just down the road from the academy. There they all sat down at a picnic table with the students facing their new teacher across the table, Kai still separating Hanabi and Konohamaru .

"Well, the first task of any team is to introduce ourselves, let your team get a feel for your personality. So we're going to take turns to tell the others our name, our likes, our dislikes and our dreams for the future. I'll go first; I'm Umino Iruka. I like Ramen, teaching and cats. I dislike troublemakers and people who waste their potential. My dreams for the future are to allow the next generation to achieve their full potential. Alright, who's next," at this Kai raised his hand. "Ok, Kai you go,"

"Hayase Kai. I like Swimming and Origami. I dislike arid, hot weather and spicy food. My dream for the future is to become a great shinobi like my father and uncle and to fold a million paper cranes to bring eternal good fortune to the village," to emphasise his last point he placed a newly folded paper crane on the table.

"Ok, how about you now Konohamaru," Iruka said

"I am Sarutobi Konohamaru. I like learning new jutsu, becoming stronger and ramen. I dislike arrogant people," he gave Hanabi a pointed look, "and people who are mean to others without reason. My dream for the future is to become the seventh Hokage after Naruto finishes as the sixth," Iruka smiled at that last part, remembering his old student.

"Hanabi, you're up,"

"I am Hyuga Hanabi, of the Main branch and second heir to the head of the family behind my sister. I like proving myself and upholding the Hyuga way of life. I dislike loud and obnoxious people," she glared at Konohamaru, who managed to not shrink away in fear through shear will power, " and people who get privileges they don't deserve. My dreams for the future ate to prove myself to my father and show I am the rightful heir to the Hyuga family, not my sister."

"Ok, now we have that out of the way, we can go get some lunch, I think, as of tomorrow we will be assuming the role of an active ninja team. That means missions and training, so be prepared. The life of a ninja is not an easy one but it can be a rewarding one." As his new students walked ahead of him towards the small restaurant he had chosen for lunch he considered how he was meant to turn these people into a functioning and effective team, this was not going to be easy.

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**Few, finally finished. Sorry for the talky nature of this chapter but I had to establish the team dynamics. Don't worry; next chapter is will have more action and the first missions and training of team 14. Hope you enjoyed it. Pleases review. **


	4. Chapter 4 An Explosive Argument

**Hello people, I'm back. Sorry about the long wait, I had a lot of Uni work to do. Anyway read and enjoy.**

**I don't own Naruto.**

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**Chapter 4: An Explosive Argument**

Hanabi hid behind the tree, her target was in the clearing, her teammates were behind other trees, forming a triangle with her and surrounding their prey. Silently she activated her byakugan, checked the position of the target. It was sleeping, this was their chance.

"Iruka sensei, we have the target surrounded, it's sleeping, do we have permission to engage?" she whispered into her radio.

"Yes, Hanabi, but move in slowly and quietly," Iruka replied over the radio

But before he had finished Konohamaru had already burst from his hiding place and was running full speed through the clearing towards their target, who subsequently woke and began to run.

"Baka" Hanabi whispered under her breath as she started after the target and her idiot teammate.

As the target reached the edge of the clearing Konohamaru had caught up to her and proceeded to grab up the rather angry creature by the tail, which of course led to Konohamaru getting his face scratched to hell by the cat they had been hired to find. During the scuffle the cat managed to get away and ran towards the far end of the clearing where Kai was waiting for it. Unlike Konohamaru, Kai just knelt there as the cat approached, and to everyone's astonishment the cat simply stopped in front of him, stared at him for a second or two then leapt straight into his arms and purred loudly.

"I think she likes me," Kai said as he walked over to his two teammates.

"Stupid cat, scratched me half to death," Konohamaru muttered as he stood up.

"You deserved it, you almost cost us the mission," Hanabi stated, an scowl upon her face making her resemble her father.

"What kind of mission is this anyway, a lost friggin cat? This isn't ninja work, we're meant to be doing exciting things; fighting enemies, defending villages from bandits, visiting far off nations and winning wars, not finding lost pets, this is degrading!" Konohamaru yelled, releasing his frustration.

"I don't see what right you have to complain about our missions when you can't even catch a cat," Hanabi stated.

"You didn't catch it either miss high and mighty, the only reason we almost lost it is because it got past you after I slowed it down," Konohamaru replied angrily.

"That's enough fighting please guys," Iruka said as he entered the clearing, "This isn't the time, just be glad we caught the cat, but she is right Konohamaru you shouldn't have jumped the gun like that, you could have cost us the mission. I know you don't like these D-rank missions but they're important for the villages income and are used to asses new genin, if this had been a real mission we could all be dead now because you got impatient," at this Konohamaru went quiet and looked down as the Kai walked across the clearing.

"Should we return the cat now, sensei?" Kai asked.

"Yes, let's finish up, then we can break for lunch,"

They walked the short way back to the Hokage tower in silence, Iruka and Kai in front, with Konohamaru and Hanabi attempting to ignore each other behind them. Hanabi had noticed over the course of the last few weeks of missions that Konohamaru had become less and less afraid of her. Back in their days at the academy she could cause him to cower in fear with a simple look, but now he was capable of openly challenging her and holding his ground under even her most father-like glare, this was annoying as it meant she had to put up with is incessant ranting more often now.

**OoOoO**

They reached the tower quickly and handed over the cat to an overjoyed wife of the fire lord. As the rather large woman left, Team 14 approached the Hokage for a quick debriefing.

"So, you found the cat alright then?" Tsunade asked

"Finding the cat was child's play for a Hyuga with the Byakugan," Hanabi stated proudly, "though the capture was almost completely sabotaged by Konohamaru's incompetence,"

"Is this true Iruka?" Tsunade enquired, knowing better than to trust in the tactical judgement of a Genin, even Naras can make bad judgements when they lack experience.

"Not entirely, While it is true Konohamaru failed to heed an order, and this almost cost us the mission, it is also true that Hanabi provoked the action by stating she was going to do the capture alone, thus disregarding her teammates abilities," Iruka said, giving both his students a pointed stare, "If it wasn't for the cat liking Kai we would still be out looking for it."

"Thank you Iruka, and well done Kai. As for you two," Tsunade growled as she turned to the now very frightened Hyuga and Sarutobi, "this was a simple D-rank mission and you couldn't even work together to catch a cat. This is going on your records. Konohamaru I know you look up to Naruto, but what makes him great is not his early past as a delinquent but his ability to be mature when it's needed. And Hanabi, as a Hyuga you have a right to be proud of your family abilities, but no one has a right to be arrogant, especially when you know it will provoke your teammate. As punishment, I'm taking Team 14 off the mission roster until Iruka believes you have the teamwork and maturity to actually live up to the headbands you ware," with that Tsunade dismissed them with a wave of her hand and the team walked from the room, only Kai was smiling as he folded another paper crane.

They found themselves at a small cafe having lunch a few minutes later. Iruka was eating some rice balls and Kai had already finished his Sushi while Konohamaru and Hanabi just sat opposite each other glaring over their untouched food. Iruka sighed as he finished his last riceball; this was going to be tough.

"Alright, since we no longer have any missions I suppose we have the afternoon to train then," he started as two of his students continued to stare each other down while his third moved on to folding his fifth paper crane. "Come on guys, time to head to the training field,"

A few minutes later Team 14 entered the training field and walked over to where the three posts were and waited while Iruka rummaged through the large pack he had picked up from his house along the way. He eventually found what he was looking for and pulled out a bundle of small squares of paper.

"The Hokage said we're meant to use this time to work on teamwork, but I think before that we should cool off with some regular training first," Iruka said as he pulled a single piece of paper from the bundle, "this is chakra paper, it's used to determine a person's chakra nature, you apply some chakra to the paper and it will react differently depending on the nature of your chakra,"

To display what he meant Iruka began to apply chakra to his hand, causing the paper to crumble to dust.

"See, the paper turned to dirt and crumbled, showing that my nature is that of Earth, as we know there are five chakra natures, Earth, Wind, Fire, Water and Lighting. Each nature has a different affect on the paper, so let's see what nature the three of you have." He handed a square of paper to each of his students. Konohamaru went first, and as he applied his chakra to the paper it burst into flames and turned to ash.

"I'm guessing that means I have a Fire nature then," Konohamaru said as he let the ash fall to the ground.

"Yes, it would seem you have inherited your grandfather's chakra nature," Iruka said, a small smile forming at the memory of the great third Hokage.

"Ha, that's awesome; I'm going to be just like my grandpa. You're looking at the next Shinobi God,"

"Some god, can't even catch a cat," Hanabi noted dryly

"That's enough, both of you," Iruka reprimanded them, "Ok, your turn Hanabi,"

Hanabi took her piece of paper and she held it in between two fingers and applied some chakra, the paper proceeded to split in two, then the two halves both crinkled up.

"So, what does that mean," Konohamaru asked

"Well, the split means a Wind nature and the crinkling means a lightning nature," Iruka explained

"What, why does she get two natures, that's not fair," Konohamaru complained

"It's just because I'm two times the ninja you are," Hanabi sneered

"Ok, stop bickering you two, this training is meant to help calm you down. Hanabi only has two natures because of her Kekkei Genkai," Iruka cut the two bickering genin off, " a Kekkei Genkai is created by the combination of two chakra natures, and the Hyuga's Byakugan is created by a combination of Lightning and Wind natures,"

"Oh, so Sasuke had two natures too?" Konohamaru asked

"Yes, the Uchiha's Sharingan is created by a combination of Lightning and Fire," Iruka said, "Anyway I think its Kais turn now,"

"Ok," Kai said as he placed his chakra paper in the palm of his hand and applied some chakra; the paper grew wet and began to drip water.

" I saw that coming," Konohamaru blurted.

"Well, that's interesting," Iruka noted, "As a team we have all five natures, I don't think that's ever happened before. Anyway, do any of you know about the nature cycle?"

"I know," Kai said with his hand in the air, "Fire beats wind," Konohamaru smirked at this, "Wind beats Lightning; Lightning beats Earth; Earth beats Water and Water Beats Fire," Kai finished as he set down the newly folded paper crane he had made from his now soggy chakra paper.

"Yes, well done Kai," Iruka exclaimed happily, "Yes the cycle is a means of knowing which nature is best to use against any other, while only people with Kekkei Genkais have two chakra nature affinities most ninja have mastered at least two natures by the time they are Jonin. I can use both my natural Earth nature and the Fire style which I learned later. Your natural affinity for a particular nature, or two particular natures, simply means you will be able to utilise those natures easier, it doesn't mean you are incapable of learning more." Iruka explained.

"Ok, so we should start by mastering our natural chakra nature, and then try to learn another." Kai said

"Yes, but that's not the basis of today's training. What I'm going to attempt to teach you is a Chunin level technique that should both improve your teamwork help you learn about your chakra natures." Iruka stated calmly

"But we all proved we could do nature release jutsu in the graduation exam," Konohamaru complained.

"Yes, but you have thus far only learnt to use your techniques separately, I'm going to teach you how to combine them," Iruka told them, "Keep in mind however that I am only teaching you guys this technique because I believe you are capable of performing it, but until your teamwork improves I am banning its use in the field except for dire circumstances, understood?" He looked sternly at his students.

"Yes," Kai chimed.

"Understood," Hanabi said

"Fine," conceded Konohamaru

"Ok, so let's begin. Firstly do you three understand the other use for the nature cycle?" Iruka asked

"If the cycle is reversed than every chakra nature is said to increase the power of the next, "Hanabi recited, as if she had memorised the textbook, which she had because of her father.

"Very good, so in our situation that means that Your Wind nature, Hanabi, can be used to increase the power of Konohamaru's Fire Jutsu, my Earth can be used to increase your Lightning, Kai's Water to improve my Earth and Konohamaru's Fire to improve Kai's Water." Iruka said, "But at this point why don't we just focus on you three. First I want You, Konohamaru, to do a Fireball,"

At this instruction Konohamaru turned to face the small river behind them and performed the necessary hand seals, before releasing the jutsu.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu," a great burst of flame sprang forth from Konohamaru's mouth, the surface of the river began to boil and the grass started to char as the flames continued to pour from the young Sarutobi.

"Good, Konohamaru, keep it up as long as you can" Iruka said, proud of the shear power of his students jutsu, "Now Hanabi, I want you to apply some Wind chakra to Konohamaru's fireball, only a tiny amount to begin with,"

Hanabi moved forward so she was standing next to her teammate and ran through some hand signs before placing her hands out towards the fire.

"Wind Style: Gentle Breeze," a small amount of chakra collected in her hands converted into wind and began to flow out towards the flame, as if she were holding a fan. The flame reacted immediately, it became massive and warmed up to the point where the river was bubbling violently and the grass caught alight. This caught the two genin off balance, causing both to accidentally apply more chakra to their techniques, the resulting blast sent both flying into Iruka, as Kai leaped back from the heat, and then used a water jutsu to put out the grass fire before it became dangerous.

"Oww, that was painful," Konohamaru groaned.

"Don't you complain, it was your fault," hissed Hanabi.

"How was that my fault? You put in too much chakra,"

"No, you increased the chakra in your technique,"

At this point Kai interrupted the fight, "Actually guys, you both put more chakra in, that's the only way it could have blown up like that, if it was just one of you the fireball would of simply flared up like the first time,"

"He's right," said Iruka as he regained consciousness and removed himself from the ground, "You both panicked and forgot to maintain chakra control," he looked up in the sky to see the sun was beginning to set, "Ok guys, time to head home I think, we'll meet up here at 9 tomorrow morning, dismissed,"

With that the three students said their goodbye to their teacher and headed home, Kai to the north and Hanabi and Konohamaru to the west, the two continued bickering all the way to the Hokage mansion where Konohamaru went to his house just next door, while Hanabi continued down the road to the Hyuga estate.

**OoOoO**

Hyuga Hiashi watched his daughter come down the main path from the estates front gate, he sighed, his heart heavy with the burden it was his duty as head of the clan to bare. He was both pleased and concerned by the decision the clan elders had reached that afternoon, and now he was going to be forced to do what he had selfishly hoped to avoid all these years.

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**What will Hiashi have to do? Will Hanabi and Konohamaru ever stop bickering? Will Kai stop folding paper cranes? Will Tora the Cat return? Stay tuned and find out. **

**Please review. **


	5. Chapter 5 Back to the Grindstone

**Hey Guys, I am completely sorry for the ludicris time between chapters here, But a combination of Uni and Personal things got in the way, but I'm back and will endevour to finnish this story as soon as possible.  
**

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**Chapter 5: Combination Training**

As soon as Konohamaru walked through the gate to the training field he was met with a jet of water hitting him full force in the face. Knocked back against the chain link fence and dripping wet he looked up at his attacker; Kai stood in front of his teammate his hands still forming the last sign of his Water Shot Jutsu.

"What was that for?" Konohamaru yelled as the blue haired Genin lowered his hands.

"You're late." Kai replied as if that explained everything.

"Not by much, I just slept in a bit,"

"Its 10 am, we were meant to meet at 9,"

"Yeah, I'm only late by an hour,"

"That is not acceptable," Iruka said as he appeared behind Kai, "A ninja should never be late, in a combat situation not adhering to the agreed timetable can lead to death."

"You don't have to get so over dramatic about it,"

Iruka sighed as he rubbed his temples "I suppose your right, especially since you still somehow managed to get here before Hanabi; it's not like her to be late,"

Konohamaru was surprised to hear that little miss perfect Hanabi was late for training, maybe she was just giving up on being a ninja after her mistake yesterday. He's not that lucky he thought, more likely she ended up going to the Hokage to petition for his suspension.

Just then Hanabi walked in through the gate next to where Konohamaru was standing, still dripping from Kai's attack. Konohamaru braced himself for some sort of witty comment or sarcastic remark about his situation but all she did was sigh and bow to Iruka.

"I am very sorry for being late Sensei, I got caught up in a family matter, it won't happen again,"

"It's ok, we were held up by Konohamaru being late anyway,"

Konohamaru didn't reply to the obviously pointed remark from his teacher, he was still shocked by the sudden change in Hanabi's attitude. It was subtle, small things but he noticed it. Her eyes weren't as focused as usual, her posture was off and she had less purpose in her step. On top of that her clothes were different, gone were the traditional Hyuga fighting clothes, replaced with less formal training gear and her headband had moved from around her neck to on her forehead. These changes disturbed Konohamaru, he couldn't quite put his finger on it but something defiantly wasn't right.

"Well, now that we're all here why don't we get back to training," the slight hesitation in Iruka's speech and the quizzical look Kai gave Hanabi indicated they had both registered her change in character, though neither commented on it, and if she realised her teammates concerns she showed no sign of it.

For several weeks they continued to train focussing on techniques that require teamwork. Hanabi and Konohamaru's combined fireball attack began to show signs of being feasible, Kai and Konohamaru managed to combine their water and fire to create a massive cloud of steam which Hanabi's Byakugan allowed her to move through effortlessly while enemies would be blinded and Kai and Hanabi combined her lightning and his water to make a pseudo-minefield of electrified water.

However despite their success in completing the combined jutsu, Iruka was worried the training was having little effect on his team's ability to work together. Ironically this fear did not stem from fighting between Hanabi and Konohamaru as it usually did but from the lack of arguments the two had engaged in over the past week. The two had been unusually civil to each other since the second day of training and Iruka was sure he knew the reason why. It all started when Hanabi had been given the caged bird seal by her father.

It was not common knowledge, but not a secret either, that the Hyuga elders had forced Hiashi to finally pick which of his daughters would be his heir. The head of the Hyuga clan had been forestalling the decision for years now, seeing too much of his dear wife in each of his daughters to brand either of them. He had gotten away with it due to Hinata's seeming lack of skill as a ninja and Hanabi's natural aptitude, but with the former slowly but surely gaining in skill and being expected to easily make Chunin in the next exams the family's elder council forced the issue. As a Jonin, Iruka had received a report on the event; as keeping abreast of the Clan politics and ensuring the safety of village VIPs was all part of a Jonin's duties.

The Caged bird Seal seemed to have had a substantial impact on Hanabi's personality; she was less self confident than usual and offered up explanations or answers with much less frequency, also her dress, hair and posture had become more dishevelled, not to the level of Konohamaru but a slight wilt on a usually perfect presentation. Iruka was sure that more than the caged bird Seal itself it was the delay in application that was causing Hanabi's slump. By constantly putting off his duty to pick an heir Hiashi had unintentionally caused Hanabi to believe she could be the head of the clan, and now to have that taken away from her, it was a severe blow to her self-belief. She probably thought it was because she failed, that she wasn't good enough.

Iruka could see that Konohamaru was also aware of Hanabi's changes, he was constantly lost in thought staring at her, as if she was a puzzle to solve, if Iruka didn't know any better he'd think Konohamaru actually cared. It was obvious he didn't know that she had been branded, and the fact she had moved her head band to cover the marking suggested Hanabi didn't want her teammates to know, so Iruka resigned himself to doing the best he could and he'd let Konohamaru figure it out on his own.

It was right at the end of another long day of training that a messenger showed up to summon Iruka to the Hokage's office, he dismissed his students and immediately made his way to the Hokage's complex in the centre of the village.

Upon arriving, Iruka was ushered through to Tsunade's office by the Chunin at the desk. Inside the Hokage sat behind her desk, her forehead frowned in concentration. Behind her stood Shizune, still holding Ton-Ton while in front of the desk stood Hamaki.

"Ah, Iruka," Tsunade said as she raised her head to acknowledge his arrival, "Just in time, I have a mission for your team. Of course only if you think they are ready to return to active duty,"

"I believe they have learnt their lesson Ma'am, in fact active duty may do them some good,"

"Very well, Iruka, Hamaki, I am assigning both your squads to a high level C mission,"

"But Hokage, won't two teams be a slight overkill on a single C mission," Iruka asked

"Indeed on a normal C mission you'd be right Iruka, but this isn't a normal mission, firstly this will be the first C mission for both teams, secondly the nature of the mission may mean there will be a lot of ground to cover," At this Iruka and Hamaki looked at each other, they both knew what a pain non standard missions could be, " I have been getting reports in about a well organised bandit gang on the road to the Land of Wind's border. Normally I would dispatch a team of Chunin to root out and eliminate the bandits, but I'm short on manpower at the moment due to increased activity near the land of Earth. As a result I want your two teams to join a merchant caravan, the owner has already agreed to this, you shall then travel with the caravan to the land of Wind's border and eliminate any bandits that attack you along the way. Any questions?"

"How do we know the bandits will attack our caravan?" Hamaki asked.

"Well I've been letting the rumour make the rounds that this caravan will be carrying a large load of very rare artworks that are worth thousands," Tsunade answered, " Hopefully this will be enough to entice the bandits to attack. And don't worry about the merchants, they are all retired samurai from the land of Iron, they can handle themselves,"

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**Well there we go, back to missions and straight into the deep end (for a genin) we'll see how this evolves next chapter, also a quick warning next chapter will be mostly from Konahamaru's POV so be prepared for increased obnoxiousness.  
**


	6. Chapter 6 Konohamaru Thinks?

**Hey guys, sorry for both the huge wait and short length, but christmas holidays, uni class rearanging, a death in the family and a severe case of writers block added up to be very inconveniant. Either way, happy month late new year, and hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**Edited to fix some spelling/grammer errors plus add in the bandages on hanabi's head. **

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It was an unusually warm morning as the trade caravan made its way along the main highway between the Leaf village and the Sand village. A normal sight for most days, however this particular caravan had within it a secret weapon, two squads of Konoha ninja ready to strike at any bandits who would attack the rumbling line of carts and wagons.

The reports from survivors of previous attacks suggested that the bandits liked to attack the caravans from ahead and behind at the same time, so it was decided that Hamaki's team would ride up front while Iruka's would watch the rear. To maintain the element of surprise they had disguised themselves as simple traders, wearing similar plain clothes to those of the men and women they travelled with, only wearing hidden weapons and not displaying their headbands. To go one step further Hanabi was also wearing dark glasses to hide her byakugan and a bandage to cover her caged seal.

Konohamaru sat on the back of the last wagon in the line, watching the leaf village disappear in the distance as a trail of origami cranes stretched out behind them. Kai sat next to him relentlessly folding the birds from the seeming endless supply of paper in his backpack. Konohamaru had to smile to himself at his teammate's consistency. He looked back to the front of the wagon where Iruka and Hanabi sat with the driver, Iruka was chatting with the older merchant while Hanabi seemed to be reading a rather large novel, in truth though she was scanning their surroundings with her byakugan.

She seemed to be back to her old self now she was on a mission, at least a bit. She was less distracted, less sad. Konohamaru had yet to figure out what had caused the change in the Hyuga princess a few weeks ago but he was relieved it was getting back to normal. He had not been enjoying her previous mood, it was disconcerting to not be yelled at, and he was unsure where he stood with her. Now she was being bossy and stupidly efficient again, but she was still a long way off what she was before.

Konohamaru was not used to dealing with silence, as he usually made enough noise for his whole squad, but today he had been ordered into being quite to maintain his cover. It was tough though, apart from occasionally scanning the trees to the sides of the road for anything odd there was nothing to do but think. Despite popular opinion, Konohamaru did a lot of thinking, but it was usually accompanied by talking, he didn't like this quiet, slow way of thinking.

At first his thoughts went to the usual places, his future as the greatest Hokage in history, how amazing he was, where Naruto and the pervy sage could be right now. But eventually his thoughts took an odd turn; he began to think more about his current situation. He was not quite where he had envisioned he would be by now. He had assumed he would be in a team with Moegi and Udon and they would get a cool sensei and he would be well on his way to being the best ninja ever, instead he's put on a team with the origami weirdo and little miss perfection, given Iruka of all people as a sensei and was suspended from missions for almost a month. He was frustrated, none of it fit. He was meant to be the best ninja Konoha had seen since Naruto, yet here he was, sitting on a wagon, not talking, not hitting something, not even setting anything on fire, just thinking, who ever became a great ninja by thinking?

Sure there were the Hyugas or the Aburames, they were powerful noble clans, but no one remembers their names, we hear some paragraph or two about the clans in the history books and then that's it, we go on to hear about all the Kages and other great ninjas, the people who did something. Look at Hanabi's family, her father just potters about in his estate and broods, hardly ever goes on missions anymore and no one remembers him, Hinata sits around being nice, but not very impressive, and Hanabi herself usually just berates me for doing exactly what ninjas are remembered for, getting things done. Her cousin is the only one in the family who has his own recognition at the moment, and that's because he does things, he goes on cool missions, he and his team got promoted to Chunin and he's been put forward for further promotion because he gets things done.

As these rather skewed ideas ran through Konohamaru head one thought began to solidify, the reason he wasn't where he should be at the moment is because he was being held back by the quiet thinking people in his team. All the waiting, planning and preparing was stopping him from getting any real heroic action in, he was never going to do anything historic enough to become Hokage while he was on this team.

Just as this clear realisation hit, he heard a quiet thud below him, he looked down to see a kunai lodged in the back of the wagon, a small piece of paper covered in writing attached to it began to spark.

"Aah"

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**So there we are, an awful cliff hanger, don't worry there will be more action next chapter and finally some progression in the main characters' relationship, there will be romance...eventually...I swear. **


	7. Chapter 7 The Bandits Attack

**Hey Guys, I'm back. This chapter is back up to my usual 2000 words. So you can realy sink your teeth into this one. So please read it and tell me what you think. All contructive critisim welcome.**

**Edited the last sentence to fit the story's feel better. **

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**Chapter 7: The Bandits Attack**

The paper bomb kunai thudded into the back of the wagon out of nowhere, right between Konohamaru's legs. He could see the paper sparking, he could feel time slow down around him as his adrenaline spiked. He didn't have time to react, there was no time to escape or defuse it, besides he didn't know how to defuse it. This was it, this was the end of Konohamaru the great.

He closed his eyes ready to shield his team from the explosion, but surprisingly instead of a burning blast he felt a strong force hit him in the chest and send him sprawling backwards to the front of the wagon. His eyes opened in shock to see Kai levelling his stance after kicking Konohamaru away from the danger.

"No!" Shouted Konohamaru, but before he could say or do anything else Kai made a lightning fast series of hand signs, a surge of water rushed from his mouth and engulfed the bomb. The tag exploded inside the sphere of chakra infused water; however instead of destroying the wagon, the device simply caused the jutsu to pop like a bubble, harmlessly.

"Wow..." was all Konohamaru could say. Maybe this thinking and preparing paid off after all, just a little.

"There's 10 of them," Hanabi stated having dropped her novel and assumed a Hyuga style stance, "they seemed to have appeared out of thin air, five in the trees to the left, five to the right, I'm seeing only low levels of chakra, they can't be too powerful,"

Konohamaru looked at Hanabi in surprise.

"You didn't see them coming?" He yelled, both concerned and angry.

"No I told you, they just seemed to appear from nowhere, as if they teleported, or were concealed by a very powerful genjutsu. It's not my fault!" Hanabi retorted.

Konohamaru was about to continue the argument when a loud explosion at the front of the caravan caused him to stop. Moegi! Udon! They must have been attacked to.

"Both of you, stop fighting at once, this isn't helping," Iruka barked, his focus divided between his troublesome students and the assailants hanging back in the trees. "Hanabi, Konohamaru you take the five on the left, Kai, you're with me on the right, go!"

At the sound of the orders the three young ninja leaped to action. Finally, thought Konohamaru, some proper action. Hanabi was the first to strike, her opponent falling from the tree he'd been hiding in before he knew she was there. The bandits seemed to be dressed in basic grey shirts and trousers, with a further grey head wrap concealing their identities. Konohamaru met his first adversary with a quick punch to the gut, followed by a sweeping kick that sent the highwayman plummeting to the ground, his head connecting with several branches on the way down.

Hanabi launched from the tree where she had felled her first enemy to land behind a second grey figure, targeting his chakra points, she sent half a dozen strong jolts of chakra into his back. He collapsed, no longer able to move his body, a grunt of pain sounded from his mouth as he hit the forest floor. She turned in time to see Konohamaru dispatch his second foe with a huge fireball, which knocked aside the bandit's lame attempt to through a kunai. She had to admire the boy's skill, he was an idiot to be sure, but he was a strong idiot and he mostly meant well. Her train of thought was cut short by the appearance of a hulking figure behind Konohamaru as he gloated over his win. This bandit was both physically more imposing than the others, and had a higher level of chakra. Konohamaru didn't see him; she only had a few seconds to react. She drew a kunai from her pouch and threw it, as accurately as her byakugan enhanced eyes would allow. The large grey clad man dodged the kunai easily, but the flash of movement had caused it's desired effect, Konohamaru whirled with a startled yelp and immediately released a second fireball into the brute's face, sending him earth bound to follow his comrades. Konohamaru took one look at the motionless grey figure below him then spared a tentative glance at Hanabi, he waved in thanks and then jumped down to the ground to inspect the unconscious bandits below.

Yeah, Hanabi thought, he's an idiot.

Moegi focused her chakra into her feet as she ran full pelt up the tree's ancient trunk, effortlessly dodging kunai and shuriken as she went. The attack had come out of nowhere, not even Hamaki Sensei had sensed their approach. The grey attackers had caught them off guard, they had barely escaped the front wagon in time, and if not for Hamaki Sensei's quick reactions the driver of the cart wouldn't have survived.

Something bothered her however, these bandits were too weak. They had pulled off an ambush so well that they had even surprised an experienced Jonin like Sensei, yet when they actually got to the fighting, they were barely able to take a basic taijutsu stance. It was obvious they were trying to emulate ninja skills in their attack, and they were armed with ninja tools, yet there combat skill was below that of an academy student. It didn't add up.

As she took out the first grey figure in her path with an almost casual strike to the solar plexus, she wondered how Konohamaru's team were doing; there hadn't been an explosion from their end so maybe they hadn't been attacked. Or maybe that witch had seen the ambush coming with her weird eye jutsu and hogged the glory for herself, she added spitefully.

She didn't like Hanabi, the prim and proper little spoilt brat had stolen her place on Konohamaru's team, and Moegi so hated competition. Somehow she was going to weasel her way back onto the same team as Konohamaru, and that witch of a Hyuga will be nothing but a bad memory. She smiled evilly to herself at the thought of Hanabi being reduced to tears as Moegi and Konohamaru walked down the aisle. The affect this had on her appearance caused so much fear in the grey covered man she had landed in front of that he almost fell off the tree before her overpowered kick to his groin sent him plummeting to the earth and the now welcoming embrace of unconsciousness. She sighed heavily, having worked off a good bit of her anger.

She glanced over at Udon who had already dispatched the other three assailants on this side of the road using a combination of taijutsu and a weak attempt to copy a Konohamaru fire ball. They had discovered early in their training that Udon, unlike Moegi and Konohamaru had an Earth nature affinity, instead of a Fire nature. This explained why his fireballs had always been weaker than the others, yet habit still made it his go to ninjutsu, Hamaki said that even a fireball of that level was amazing for an earth nature genin to pull off, but Moegi suspected he was just being nice to Udon, though even Moegi had to concede that Udon was doing better outside of Konohamaru influence, though his style still seemed to imitate his best friend and idol.

Moegi and Udon both jumped and landed in unison upon the ground, where they quickly gathered the five unconscious grey clad bandits and drag them to the road and dumped them next to the remains of the front wagon. Hamaki Sensei and Futan were already there discussing the attack.

"Ah, Udon, Moegi, how did you fair," Hamaki asked his students

"Well," Moegi replied. "Though it seemed odd that they didn't offer more of a threat after such a well executed ambush," at this Hamaki smiled.

"You are very clever Moegi; I was thinking the same thing. To surprise a whole team of ninja, including a Jonin, only to fight with the skill of a common thug, it doesn't add up,"

"I suspect these were not the full force, they must have more proficient comrades who hid them from us, if so we must be careful. Moegi, go to the back of the caravan and ask Iruka to come meet with me, we must work out a strategy to deal with whatever bandit element is still out there,"

This was perfect, now she could see Konohamaru, she smiled and said a quick "Yes, Sensei," before running off to fetch Iruka Sensei from the back of the caravan

Konohamaru was the first to notice Moegi's approach.

"Hey Moegi," he said as she ran closer to their wagon, "What are you doing back here?"

"Hey Konohamaru, I was sent to ask Iruka Sensei to come to meet with Hamaki Sensei to discuss the attack we just had, I see you were hit as well," She added the last after noticing the pile of ten unconscious bandits that Kai had just finished tying up.

"Yeah it was awesome, Kai stopped a paper bomb with his water jutsu and then we went into the trees and kicked their arses, they were totally unprepared for us," Konohamaru bragged shamelessly.

"Yes because you weren't at all snuck up on by the largest one in the group," Hanabi chided, taking a significant amount of wind from his sails.

"Well ok, I admit it, you saved my arse there, but I was totally amazing arse until then,"

The concession was small, and correct but still surprising to those who knew Konohamaru; even Kai gave him a disbelieving stare. The thought that Konohamaru had been rescued by this Hyuga witch rubbed Moegi the wrong way, causing her to give Hanabi a quick glare that only the Hyuga noticed.

"Yes well, regardless of personal feats of bravery, we must consider the fact that not even Hanabi could see these guys before the attack, yet their combat skill was poor at best," Iruka finally spoke up.

"That's exactly what Hamaki sensei wants to discuss with you Iruka sensei," Mogi intoned.

"Very well, I suppose I better go speak with him, come on Moegi, let's start back,"

At this Moegi was disappointed, she only got to spend a little time with Konohamaru and it was spoilt by that stupid Hanabi.

The two Jonin had met and talked for a while before deciding that the best cause of action was to keep travelling with the caravan until they reached the Land of Wind where they would no longer have jurisdiction. The twenty bandits were kept in a central wagon, guarded by Futan and Kai, while the others resumed their usual posts.

Hanabi sat at the front of the wagon again, still pretending to read her book, while scanning the environment for threats, so far nothing out of the ordinary had appeared besides Kai's origami cranes' remarkable ability to avoid being crushed by the wagons as they passed over the paper birds. Her mind strayed to thoughts of home, to her domineering father, her distant cousin and worst of all her inept sister who had only replaced her as heir because she reminded father of mother. He had let his weakness guide his decision and now she had to suffer for it. She had been stripped of the position that had been all but promised her, forced into subjugation by her own family and all but disowned by her father. She was beginning to understand why Neji always seemed so cranky.

At least she could feel normal on missions, no family to pressure her, no father too ashamed to look her in the eyes, no sister who has no clue what to say around her. Out here she could simply be Hanabi the Leaf Ninja, rather than Hyuga Hanabi the failed daughter. She turned her thoughts to more immediate issues in an attempt to distract herself. Her team finally seemed to work today; even Konohamaru had managed to not stuff everything up. The thought of him actually acknowledging her saving him made her smirk. The thought reminded her of Moegi's reaction to the event, she wasn't sure why the girl had scowled at her, but Hanabi was both intrigued and slightly irked by the negative attention, she would have to keep an eye on Moegi.

* * *

**So, now we're realy cooking with gas, the first seeds of the romance to come have been planted, along with a healthy dose of rivalry and minor character development as a side helping. Again all contructive critisism welcome. **

**-Last sentence edited to fit the story better, thanks to Dynamite on Cure, whose input went directly into this change.**


End file.
